The health care debate continues to rage with the 'recent' compromise over the Stupak amendment. The Stupak Amendment is supported by Pro-Life advocates and detested by Pro-Choice politicians and organizations such as Planned Parenthood.
[B]What is the Stupak Amendment?[/B]
Quite simply, this amendment would prevent federal funds from being used to pay for abortion coverage under the new health care plan. This is a very volatile issue for both sides. Saturday's drama over the health care vote boiled down to the Stupak Amendment. It seems that at the eleventh hour a miraculous compromise was reached to include this proposal into the health care bill to ensure its passage in the house.
Would you be surprised to learn that this proposal has been around since July? If you are not directly involved in the Pro Life battle you may not have heard of it until just a few weeks ago. However, Bart Stupak, a Democratic congressman from Michigan, and Joe Pitts, a Republican from Pennsylvania worked together to create this amendment to deny federal funds from being distributed to any plan which covers abortion, except to save the life of the mother, or in cases of rape or incest.
Why is this so important? Because taxpayer dollars collected from American citizens who are deeply against abortion would be given to agencies or insurance companies to cover the expense of abortion. In July, this proposal was offered as the health care bill was working its way through the various committees of the House. What you may not have known is that it failed to pass in the Energy and Commerce Committee by a vote of 27-31. Fast forward to Saturday, November the 7th. Nancy Pelosi, President Obama, and other Democratic leaders realize that they will not have enough votes to pass the health care bill UNLESS the Stupak Amendment is included. There are Democrats who voted for this amendment because they are also Pro Life.
Although the Stupak Amendment passage can be considered a victory for Pro Life supporters, it may be short lived. In the end, there is no guarantee that this amendment will pass in the Senate or be included in the final version of the health care bill.